Divers Make Shocking Discovery At The Bottom Of The Ocean

Divers exploring the remote island of Kokoya, in Indonesia, made a terrible discovery. They came across rare mammals trapped at the bottom of the ocean floor in cages.

These medium-sized marine mammals are dugongs. They’re one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.

According to The Dodo, one of the divers, Delon Lim, said that the animals seemed to be a mother separated from her calf in different underwater cages. The mom had a rope tied around her tail, but the young dugong was without restraints.

One of the divers tweeted the picture that says, “want to report there was a dugong was captured and tied up on the island of Kokoya by Fisherman … His condition is pitiful! Although they didn’t know how long the dugongs have been held captive down there, they did know that the ropes used look very worn and the wounds and scars on the tail of the mother were very deep. It looked to them that they have been down there for a few weeks. They were captured by a fisherman who asked for money in exchange to see and take pictures of the dugongs. The divers tried to convince the person who captured them to set them free, because they are protected species. Lim told The Dodo, “When we left the island, the fisherman agreed to release them, But since we were not so convinced he would, I posted the video to social media. The other divers did as well.”

Within a couple hours, the wildlife authorities got in touch with Lim to find out where the exact location of the cages were. Officials went down underwater themselves the next day and found the pair still locked up and they were set free.